Two competitions were organised for secondary school students by CIT’s Science for Life programme during the 2010 Easter period. One competition was held for Junior Cycle students and the other for Senior Cycle students.

Dr. Sharon Lawton (Science Officer, CIT) presenting Bryan Condon, Deerpark CBS with the first place prize of an iPod Nano. Also in the photograph are Physics teacher Tim Kerins and Deirdre Creedon (Access Officer, CIT).

The Senior Cycle competition involved writing an essay on ‘Scientific Discoveries that Revolutionized Modern Society’. Bryan Condon, Deerpark CBS wrote the winning essay on the discovery of Penicillin by Alexander Fleming.

Tim Kerins, Dr. Sharon Lawton, Bryan Condon and Aidan McNally, Principal Deerpark CBS.

Dr. Sharon Lawton (Science Officer, CIT) and Tim Kerins, Physics Teacher, Deerpark CBS

]]> http://www.scienceweb.ie/2010/05/science-for-lifes-competitions-for-secondary-schools/feed/ 0 http://www.scienceweb.ie/2010/05/scifest-2010/ http://www.scienceweb.ie/2010/05/scifest-2010/#comments Tue, 11 May 2010 10:45:10 +0000 Tim Horgan http://www.scienceweb.ie/?p=483

SciFest 2010 took place in the West Atrium at CIT’s Bishopstown Campus on Tuesday April 27th from 9.30am – 3.30pm. The SciFest Fair included a competition and exhibition of projects, a selection of science talks, science demonstrations in the college laboratories and a prize-giving ceremony. Sixty-seven projects were presented on the day covering an extremely broad range of topics from “Are Hair Straighteners Bad for Your Hair?” to “Are People Who Play Sports Smarter Than Those Who Don’t?”.

SciFest is a national festival of science organised regionally in collaboration with the Institutes of Technology. It is open to all second level students. The aim is to encourage a love of science through project-based learning and to provide more opportunities for students to present and display the results of their scientific investigations.

The Winner of the 2009 Senior Category at CIT Sci Fest was Richard O’Shea of Scoil Mhuire gan Smal (Blarney) and Richard went on to win the Overall Young Scientist Exhibition earlier this year.